The judicial slots were shared between sons, daughters, wives of the judicial cabal –ex – President of the NHRC, says Odinkalu

A former president of the National Human Rights Commission, Prof. Chidi Odinkalu, has accused the National Judial Council (NJC) of manipulating judicial appointments by allocating positions to children, spouses and relatives of a rooted elite who described as “owners of the judiciary”.

Odinkalu made the accusations in an X post (previously Twitter) following the recent publication of the NJC of 80 names appointed for judicial appointments in higher record court courts.

The list includes 53 appointed for the High Courts, 20 for the Sharia Courts of Appeal, seven for the customary appeal courts and two appointed for the head of the chief judge in two states.

While the NJC invited public inputs on the candidates within a 14-day window, Odinkalu has questioned the sincerity of the process, describing it as an empty exercise intended to legitimize pre-organized appointments.

“Apparently, the” slots “had all been assigned to sons, daughters, wives and relatives of some” owners of the judiciary “”, he wrote.

“The invitation process to @nigbarassoc to comment was a coverage to offer a cool legitimacy to the brazen looting of judicial appointments.”

The lawyer for human rights raised multiple concerns, including the inability of the NJC to reveal what would have been done with the collected feedback and its preparation to process this information in a credible way in the digital era.

“People who do not have a credible guarantee on how the information they provide will be managed respond with enthusiasm,” he observed.

Odinkalu also pointed out that in previous appointments, in particular during the mandate of the immediate past of Nigeria, the feedback of the Association of Nigerian lawyers (NBA) was ignored or treated as a rethinking.

He mentioned an application in which a request for the NBA input was sent only after closing the appointment process, making the feedback useless.

“The NJC must do more than to simply ask for public comments. He must demonstrate both the ability and the political will to treat the contribution he receives seriously,” he insisted.

“What must change is much more than inviting the public to post comments … if @njcnig wants to be taken seriously, it must show a ability to elaborate what will get and the desire to ensure that what it achieves will have importance.”

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